1973 Archives - Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Philippines https://rmaward.asia/yearawarded/1973/ Asia’s premier prize and highest honor for transformative leadership. Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:37:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://rmaward.asia/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cropped-RMAF_Medallion_Logo-32x32.png 1973 Archives - Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Philippines https://rmaward.asia/yearawarded/1973/ 32 32 Chanawongse, Krasae https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/chanawongse-krasae/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/chanawongse-krasae/ A medical doctor from Thailand who educated the people of a remote community to a new and vital awareness of what they can do for themselves with meager means

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  • KRASAE found the official health building in Muang Phon dilapidated and ill-equipped. He first cleaned and whitewashed the old building, gave good service, and encouraged people to discuss their problems with him in and outside the clinic.
  • Then, by example of his hard work, attention to their larger welfare, and persuasion, he set out to induce every citizen to contribute one baht (five U.S. cents) toward the construction of a new health center.
  • The Muang Phon family planning program, with similarly wide community participation, is a model for the kingdom.
  • The RMAF Board of Trustees recognizes him for demonstrating that a doctor dedicated to service can overcome the most stubborn of obstacles in bringing effective health services to neglected and impoverished rural people.

Renouncing professional and material attractions that draw so many doctors to city practice, KRASAE CHANAWONGSE chose service in Muang Phon, the rural municipality where he was born. Prospects were not promising for his home—in Khon Kaen Province some 336 kilometers northeast of Bangkok—is in the bleakest region of Thailand. Red, infertile, salty earth bakes hard in the long, searingly hot summers. Farmers in this Thai-Lao border area live precariously, raising mainly rice and jute with little irrigation. Per capita annual income is about US$55, or less than half the national average.

Classmates and relatives expected KRASAE to seek escape from hardship. One of eight children of a poor family, he left school at age 13. Apprenticed in a lumber shop without pay, he earned cash after hours selling rainwater for drinking to passengers at the nearby railway station. Befriended by the school principal, he later completed secondary school while working as a delivery boy. With his brother paying the tuition and the assemblyman from the Province allowing him to live in his house, KRASAE continued his studies in Bangkok. He graduated from Siriraj Hospital, University of Medical Sciences, in 1960 at the age of 26.

In medical school, thinking of 140,000 people in Phon District with endemic illnesses, treatable diseases and infections, and no doctor, he determined to serve them.

KRASAE found the official health building in Muang Phon dilapidated and ill-equipped. He first cleaned and whitewashed the old building, gave good service, and encouraged people to discuss their problems with him in and outside the clinic. Then, by example of his hard work, attention to their larger welfare, and persuasion, he set out to induce every citizen to contribute one baht (five U.S. cents) toward construction of a new health center. Municipal councilors, village headmen, teachers and policemen helped. Even poor people he had treated responded with more than asked. Merchants joined in giving. Today the community has its own First Class Health Center with a small hospital and modest, modern facilities. Unpaid volunteers enlist for training and for regular service, preparing clinic patients for examination and other non-medical work. The Muang Phon family planning program, with similarly wide community participation, is a model for the kingdom.

In his 12-year crusade for sanitation, preventive medicine and curative treatment within the means of his Health Center, KRASAE has established a rare rapport with his remote community and has educated the people to a new and vital awareness of what they can do for themselves with meager means. He has earned their love and pride by his ennobling example.

In electing KRASAE CHANAWONGSE to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Board of Trustees recognizes him for demonstrating that a doctor dedicated to service can overcome the most stubborn of obstacles in bringing effective health services to neglected and impoverished rural people.

It gives me great pleasure to stand before you today, to have the opportunity of once more seeing the Philippines—the “Pearl of the Orient,” especially the beautiful Bay of Manila—and to meet again your proud and charming people. This is my third visit to the Philippines but never before have I been here in such exciting circumstances.

I am indeed very pleased to be the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award. It never occurred to me that I should receive such a great honor. It is far more than I could ever have hoped for in my position as a doctor in rural Thailand.

I am even more impressed by the greatness of the honor given me when I consider the man—Ramon Magsaysay. His selfless devotion to the task of improving the lot of his countrymen is an inspiration to the whole world, and my receiving this Award has again brought to the notice of the Thai people this great man and the principles he stood for—principles of freedom and democracy and of the importance and dignity of every individual person.

I must say that I admire the diplomatic way of working employed by the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. Usually, competitors receive the prize when the race is finished. For me, this prize doesn’t mean the end of the race but it will be a spur to even greater endeavor on behalf of the people of Muang Phon, and, therefore, of the vast population of rural Thailand.

In concluding, I would like to thank sincerely all concerned, and as their representative to convey the goodwill of the people of Muang Phon to the people of the Philippines.

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]]> Ishimure, Michiko https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/ishimure-michiko/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/ishimure-michiko/ A Japanese poet and essayist whose writings helped address the toxic industrial pollution ravaging her community's water systems and killing its fisher folks

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  • ISHIMURE’s penetrating portrayals of fisher folks’ lives and agonizing illnesses within the context of a stratified society were first published in a small literary magazine in Kumamoto, Kyushu.
  • In 1968, her collection of poetic essays about toxic waste pollution, Kukai Jodo Waga Minamata (Pure Land Poisoned Sea) commanded national response.
  • Ostracized by unaffected residents whose living depended upon the polluting company, and over protestations even of relatives, Ishimure persisted and published her collection of essays, Waga Shimin Minamata-byo Toso (Minamata Disease My Dead People), in 1972.
  • The RMAF Board of Trustees recognizes her as the “voice of her people” in their struggle against the industrial pollution that has been distorting and destroying their lives.

A shy, frail housewife and aspiring poet, MICHIKO ISHIMURE became a determined documentaries when “ businessmen with no conscience ” allowed toxic waste to pollute her community. Arousing the public will, she demonstrated how exacting search for fact could overcome bureaucratic inertia and hostile industrial interests.

Minamata was a naturally beautiful but poor fishing and farming center when one of Japan’s pioneer chemical companies established itself there in 1908. Growing into a great chemical complex before, and especially after, World War II, the company became the principal employer and dominant influence in local politics and government.

Official non-interest attended a puzzling “cat’s dance disease” that spread through Minamata nearly a quarter century ago, causing frenzied cats to die or drown themselves. Nor did officials show concern when people, especially fisher folk, were afflicted with a crippling and disfiguring disease that also was often convulsive and fatal. An exception was the late Dr. Hajime Hosokawa of the chemical company’s hospital, who, in 1957, enlisted research assistance from Kumamoto University Medical School. Their finding that the “mysterious disease” was a central nervous system disorder resulting from eating fish contaminated by mercury waste discharged into Minamata Bay was suppressed, though the City Hospital had to build special wards to accommodate the patients.

Impelled by her Buddhist upbringing to act against callous harm to life, Mrs. ISHIMURE quietly sought out the stricken. Her penetrating portrayals of their lives and agonizing illnesses within the context of a stratified society were first published in a small literary magazine in Kumamoto, Kyushu. When assembled into a book, Kukai Jodo Waga Minamata (Pure Land Poisoned Sea) in 1968, these poetic essays commanded national response.

The resistance of local and national authorities and the chemical industry was stubborn. Ostracized by unaffected residents whose living depended upon the polluting company, and over protestations even of relatives, Mrs. ISHIMURE persisted. A collection of essays by her and others, Waga Shimin Minamata-byo Toso (Minamata Disease My Dead People), was published in 1972. A second book, a compilation of her own perceptive writings previously carried in leading magazines and newspapers, Rumin no Miyako (City of Drifters), was in its third printing within a month after publication in March 1973.

As scientists, publicists and committees of concerned citizens have gained hearing in Tokyo, the Health and Welfare Ministry belatedly has acted. Though the chemical industry has begun corrective measures, the battle still is not won. As Mrs. ISHIMURE chronicles it, the Minamata tragedy is only a part of the ongoing struggle between the simple innocence of fishermen and farmers and the tyranny of mass industrialization that threatens to dehumanize society.

In electing MICHIKO ISHIMURE to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts, the Board of Trustees recognizes her as the “voice of her people” in their struggle against the industrial pollution that has been distorting and destroying their lives.

The anniversary of the surrender of Bataan makes it impossible for me to express my appreciation without honestly falling headlong into complex feelings of anguish, because as a human being of that country whose soldiers perpetrated that surrender in your land, I am to receive your most noble and humane national prize, the Magsaysay Award.

The setting sun over Manila Bay, the beauty of which is praised throughout the world as exquisite, sets also into my soul as if bathed in human blood. In like manner, the setting sun over Manila Bay reminds me of the beauty of the sun setting over my own Minamata Sea.

This same sunset has twilight the funeral march of my people on the seaside hills, and yet, while these dead were still among the living, this solar twilight cascaded over the canvas sails of their boats as if over so many flower petals being guided smoothly over the water on their way. And the shimmering sunlight presided over the wind romping across the sea beckoning to the many schools of swimming fish.

In the ancient and primitive religions of my country, the abundant light of the sun brought life to this world, and was worshipped as the goddess of affection and peace. Among other gods were those who misbehaved and brought disaster to people, causing the sun goddess to hide herself because of her overwhelming sadness; this left the people in fearful darkness pleading for the return of their goddess through prayer and self-restraint. This original mythology developed into a most simple but powerful morality for my people. Even today, when scientific civilization has become the object of faith, there is no doubt that the sun still remains the ultimate lord of life.

With this kind of faith already in existence, then, the national modernization of my country brought drastic modifications so that the hearts and minds of my people became alienated. Thus, in the last world war this warped faith was used as a slogan for the invasion of other countries. In spite of this, like people in your own country who have not yet been destroyed by the evils of civilization, so in my Minamata, there are people who cannot live without love for the life of others.

It is these kinds of people who have been attacked by organic and inorganic mercury and other industry-related heavy metal poisons so that, not only has their existence and life lost its physical viability through the accumulation of death-dealing quantities of poison metals, but also the aim of this intrusion has been the sneering and insulting execution of the unique, beautiful and delicate ethics yet remaining in my homeland.

This intruder came dressed in the garb of area industrial development and economic growth and he appeared before humble and simple people using a silky coaxing voice like that of the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood.”

While modern chemical industry was secretly depositing poisons, some of my own people died a sudden and anguishing death, and through 10 and 20 year periods, parents, children and then grandchildren were more slowly murdered. However, these people, caught in an unprecedented disaster, saw through those who sought to destroy them with the penetrating sight of unseeing eyes at death.

Over a long period of time, the people who remained were filled with the will of those who had, in such a manner, died, just as the people in your country had begun in a moment to observe in their hearts the Bataan surrender anniversary.

In the classic writings of my culture there is a saying which goes: “The bird’s most beautiful song comes at the moment of death.” At the end of one’s destiny, life, in and of itself, has a dignity and beauty which, even though denied, is not unappealing.

The final voice of that given destiny, after being murdered by a giant even more inhumane than “The Merchant of Venice,” does not stop offering, to those who are left, a deep revelation.

Many of my friends, infinitely more so than myself, have gone through a powerful resurrection of the soul through this death watch, and stand thus together with those who are suffering in order to create many practical and bold action groups. And these persons, expecting no return, humbly and with silent persistence pursue the kind of work that others would not do. My humble literary offerings have been enlightened by these people who act, not with words, but with deeds.

Modern industrial society proceeds in the direction of defacing the most delicate and deep receptivity of the human spirit. For example, when comparing the magnificent and mysterious structures yet remaining in the hinterlands of Southeast Asia, with the buildings in the modern cities of my own country, it can be seen that modern structures are only piles of concrete void of any personality.

My humble desire has been only to bring to life and make sound again this basic and rich receptivity that yet undoubtedly is retained within women and men. Originally, the subject of poetry was the grandeur of nature and I tried to tune my bowstring for a world of people whose souls interacted with the grandeur of nature. However, my bowstring didn’t vibrate, and listening to the wee small voice of my heart, I know now why: the song of those in death was more beautiful than the song sung by the living. Only a small part of this has been put into words.

I have heard that Japanese enterprises have begun their invasion of this country but I pray from the bottom of my heart that your land will never be inflicted with a disaster like that in Minamata.

I ask only that I be allowed to use this Award money for the sake of those still left alive. I offer my deepest thanks.

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]]> Sekhar, Balachandra Chakkingal https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/sekhar-balachandra-chakkingal/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/sekhar-balachandra-chakkingal/ A scientist and first Malaysian to head the Chemistry Division in 1964 and later became the Director of the Institute, in 1966. Led The Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) showing that farmers in developing lands, guided by effective application of systematized knowledge and organization, can compete with great, multinational corporations and safeguard their means of livelihood

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  • Dr. B. C. SEKHAR’s emergence to lead RRIM turned the organization as the largest research organization in the world devoted to a single crop- rubber.
  • RRIM has reversed natural rubber’s prospects by effective action on five fronts: 1. developing Standard Malaysian Rubbers (SMR) grading to buyers’ technical specifications; 2. producing “Heveacrumb” that is uniform and superior to bales of ribbed, smoked sheet, and recently a tire-rubber blend; 3. conducting botanical research which has resulted in faster-maturing, higher-yielding, sturdier trees by budding clones and now by tissue culture techniques; 4. simplifying gathering by tapping directly into plastic bags thus also avoiding contamination of the latex; and 5. developing stimulants to paint on rubber trees to double or triple latex yields.
  • While distinguishing himself as one of Asia’s most effective scientists, SEKHAR has remained sensitive to the human dimension and ensured that research is aimed at reaching and benefiting all through energetic extension by the Institute’s Smallholders Project Research, Training and Advisory Services divisions, and the cooperating Malaysian Government Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority.
  • The RMAF board of trustees recognizes his leadership of scientific and technical advances that assure a more prosperous and stable future for rubber growers, large and small, in South and Southeast Asia.

The Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) scientists and technicians are showing that farmers in developing lands, guided by effective application of systematized knowledge and organization, can compete with great, multinational corporations and safeguard their means of livelihood.

Since the cultivation of Hevea brasiliensis trees to tap their latex began with 22 seedlings shipped from Kew Gardens, London, to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens in 1877, the fortunes of the rubber industry have been elastic. As automobiles multiplied before, during and after World War I, several million acres were planted to Hevea in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, India and Sri Lanka. From the peak in the 1920s to the nadir in the Great Depression, rubber prices fluctuated from US$1.23 to three U.S. cents per pound. Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II prompted massive production of synthetic rubber by the West. Subsequent technical advances resulted, by the late 1960s, in a synthetic “natural” rubber, Cis-1, 4-polyisoprene. The livelihood of many millions growing natural rubber in rural Asia seemed doomed.

Dr. B. C. SEKHAR’s emergence to leadership of the RRIM parallded this challenge to natural rubber, which was felt most acutely in Malaysia as supplier of 40 percent of the world’s total production. Born less than four miles from the Institute’s 3,400-acre experiment station at Sungei Buloh, the now 44-year-old chemist knew rubber firsthand: his father, an immigrant from India in 1916, had worked on rubber estates and become an estate assistant. Joining the Institute in 1949 SEKHAR led research, especially in physiochemical changes, in rubber. He was the first Malaysian to head the Chemistry Division, in 1964, and to become Director of the Institute, in 1966.

As the largest research organization in the world devoted to a single crop, RRIM has reversed natural rubber’s prospects by effective action on five fronts: 1. developing Standard Malaysian Rubbers (SMR) grading to buyers’ technical specifications; 2. producing “Heveacrumb” that is uniform and superior to bales of ribbed, smoked sheet, and recently a tire-rubber blend; 3. conducting botanical research which has resulted in faster-maturing, higher-yielding, sturdier trees by budding clones and now by tissue culture techniques; 4. simplifying gathering by tapping directly into plastic bags thus also avoiding contamination of the latex; and 5. developing stimulants to paint on rubber trees to double or triple latex yields.

While distinguishing himself as one of Asia’s most effective scientists, SEKHAR has remained sensitive to the human dimension. Research is aimed at reaching and benefiting all through energetic extension by the Institute’s Smallholders Project Research, Training and Advisory Services divisions, and the cooperating Malaysian Government Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority.

In electing BALACHANDRA CHAKKINGAL SEKHAR to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes his leadership of scientific and technical advances that assure a more prosperous and stable future for rubber growers, large and small, in South and Southeast Asia.

No words at my command will be adequate to express the impact this Award has made on me. And not all present can wholly appreciate how this overwhelming moment engulfs me in my own thoughts and feelings—thoughts and feelings which at once scan the spectrum of my adult life, highlighting moments of satisfaction and disappointments, achievements and failures. Equally, one is reminded in this train of thought of the responsibilities that lie ahead, and of the smallness of one’s achievements against the requirements of one’s chosen field of endeavor. I am all the more conscious of this default when I think of the great man in whose memory this Award is so significantly and rightly instituted to inspire us to emulate his complete and selfless dedication to the improvement of his fellowmen. In receiving this Award, therefore, I am only too aware of how much more one should really do to become truly worthy of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

The natural rubber industry is the economic lifeblood of many countries in Southeast Asia, and certainly of my country. In a fast-changing world the requirements imposed on an agricultural commodity in competition with a sophisticated industrial product must be met if it is to survive. For success in this struggle for survival two essential conditions must be fulfilled. First, modern science and technology must be brought to bear in all their manifestations in formulating solutions to meet changing industrial and economic requirements. Second, such solutions must be actively translated into practice for the benefit of the entire industry. In fulfilling the first condition, a team of dedicated scientists and technologists—with a clear understanding of the problems and with a depth of knowledge and a vision relentlessly to pursue the solutions—must be available. The second condition demands that the affected countries must consciously, concertedly, and urgently attack the problem of implementing the improvements.

I have been in the very fortunate and privileged position of having colleagues who measure up to such demands and a country which is determined to support in every way any effort to improve and modernize an industry which contributes to the well-being of millions of people. The recognition and honor I receive today therefore extends to my colleagues at the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia and to my country.

My own satisfaction stems from the quiet recognition that millions of people in my own country and other natural rubber producing countries are now beginning to share the returns from a scientifically exploited and modernized natural rubber industry. That my own small efforts have contributed to this improvement makes me only feel deeply and warmly grateful that circumstances allowed me the privilege and opportunity to serve the natural rubber industry.

Natural rubber once reigned as the single, supreme sovereign in the empire of elastomers. But scientific progress, pushed ahead by political and economic forces, not only produced pretenders to the throne but also heirs who claimed rightful control in specific areas. In the midst of this claim for supremacy, the future role of natural rubber was challenged and the livelihood of millions in the developing countries of Southeast Asia was threatened. In fact, it was even prophesied that natural rubber would be forced to abdicate, and would suffer a fate similar to so many raw, primary products that have been ousted by superior, synthetic substitutes.

By research and development programs concerned with production economics, presentation standards, and consumer technology, we have proved that the future of so many in our developing countries, which is riveted to the natural rubber industry, need not be impaired. Indeed, the use of science and technology allows us to assure these same people a future which can be stronger, safer and sunnier.

As a scientist, I cannot help but feel that it is by the proper and urgent use of science and technology that quickly improve the economic well-being of our people.

In the natural rubber industry the impact of science has been felt. And arising from this, our ordinary people are beginning to harvest the economic returns. But equally important is the fact that the implementation of scientific research cultivates the scientific mind and spirit. This cannot be otherwise; for to utilize the fruits of research, the mind, the intellect, must be receptive. I can sense the positive social transformation that will take place—where obsolete, old ideas give way to new, strong and progressive views. And so I see the progress of our natural rubber industry as one not merely contributing to the material welfare of rubber growers but also, importantly, molding the scientific mind and outlook so vital for our development. Thus I feel that this Award is not made only to me, but to the many of us in the natural rubber industry who are striving to ensure the progress of our people.

I, therefore, am grateful that this Award recognizes this urge for progress, and in receiving it I am again conscious of the willing help I have received from so many which has given me happiness in my work that is beyond the power of failure or sorrow to destroy.

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]]> Fortich, Antonio Yapsutco https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/fortich-antonio-yapsutco/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/fortich-antonio-yapsutco/ A Catholic bishop and social activist who lived in Bacolod in Negros Occidental in the Philippines

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  • Priest to the Negrenses for 23 years and a prime mover of social change in the province, ANTONIO FORTICH in January 1967 became Bishop of Bacolod.
  • From collaboration between the Bishop and GASTON grew creation, in 1968, of the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association, Inc., now with 1,234 members.
  • The RMAF board of trustees recognizes their engineering of an experiment in rural development giving small, indebted farmers in Dacongcogon Valley control of their livelihood and new hope.

The cane sugar industry traditionally, in the Philippines as in many countries, has fostered disparities in wealth that frustrate rising expectations. Every planter and worker knows the dilemma—as population increases—of sharing a father’s job among several sons. For youth, prospects of finding dignity and a decent living are dim.

As a solution for the depressed Dacongcogon Valley of southern Negros Occidental, BENJAMIN GASTON, in 1958, began looking for means to build a sugar mill. Residents were chiefly children of settlers to whom his father, as Provincial Governor, had distributed homesteads in the 1930s, or families whose resettlement he had himself administered in the early 1950s.

Poor roads, inadequate capital and skills, and lack of organization forced farmers to sell meager crops at low prices to middlemen. By 1967, 80 percent of settled lands were subject to foreclosure for unpaid loans.

Priest to the Negrenses for 23 years and a prime mover of social change in the province, ANTONIO FORTICH in January 1967 became Bishop of Bacolod. Deeply rooted in local conditions, he sought a just society of recognized rights and responsibilities, prodding planters and centrals (sugar mills), priests, politicians and the less privileged to cooperate in meeting glaring needs.

From collaboration between the Bishop and GASTON grew creation, in 1968, of the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association, Inc., now with 1,234 members. The next year they organized the Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company, Inc. Alternating their original positions, the Bishop now serves as head of the company and GASTON of the cooperative. Financial ingenuity allowed acquisition of an old sugar mill in Silay and its transfer to Dacongcogon as the first project of the company. The mill’s former owners and the National Investment and Development Corporation hold 13.7 million pesos in stock for sale only to Cooperative members who contribute four pesos from their return on each 63.25-kilo picul of their 60 percent of sugar milled. From the small first and second crops of cane milled, the future owners have accumulated P862,000 to buy shares.

Beginning with the 1975-76 crop, the Dacongcogon Company is to repay over 15 years the P27 million borrowed from the Philippine National Bank. Utilized to move, establish and modernize the 1,500-tons-per-day mill, this loan also financed roads, tractors and trucks. Special presidential sanction allowed the Development Bank of the Philippines to restructure old loans to farmers, who, in turn, are showing encouraging capacity to learn to repay their new crop loans.

Notable among donations are technical assistance from the Victorias Milling Company, cane points from established planters and Provincial Government help on roads and bridges. Following his bishop’s lead, the parish priest has persuaded farmers to work together and hold onto their land.

While skeptics question whether these small planters will be led astray by their new cash resources or sell out to larger interests, the Cooperative has increased tenfold the members who have secured title to their lands. Corn and upland and lowland rice are also producing yields and prices new to these formerly subsistence farmers. Economic vitality in the “Valley of Tall Grass” is evidence of what people, church and government can accomplish together, under effective and enlightened leadership.

In electing Bishop ANTONIO YAPSUTCO FORTICH and BENJAMIN CORTEZA GASTON to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes their engineering of an experiment in rural development giving small, indebted farmers in Dacongcogon Valley control of their livelihood and new hope.

We have come today to accept this singular honor as one of the recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, fully cognizant of the challenge that goes with it.

Indeed the honor is overwhelming and viewed against the ideals, aims and purposes of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation one can only accept the same as indicating public recognition of the efforts and energies, as well as sacrifices and indomitable spirit, of the many men and women of goodwill who have kept faith with us during the most trying and difficult days at the inception of the Dacongcogon Cooperative Sugar Mill project.

The fact that a clergyman has been chosen this year under the category of Public Service has made the challenge doubly significant.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award for the Dacongcogon project clearly and mistakably shows what a resolute and dedicated group of men can do in the interest of the common good—indeed it is a tri-sectoral success. The Dacongcogon story stands as a positive fruition of the common efforts of the Church and of deeply-concerned men in government and the private sector in the earnest search for a better life for the Filipino common man.

It was interest in the poor and the impoverished that propelled us in 1969 to undertake this socioeconomic project. This Award therefore will be to us a public covenant to pursue these goals which we have freely chosen for ourselves in the interest of justice, prosperity and the happiness of our people as a sound and firm foundation for the continued stability of our free way of life.

We accept this Award in all humility to signify our continuing commitment towards the liberation of our people from any and all systems and structures in our society that would impede their development as befits “creatures made in the image and likeness of God.”

For the many unheralded men and women who chose to cast their lot with the Dacongcogon project, the men and women in government who have immeasurably encouraged us during the trying and difficult days, we accept this Award and extend our thanks to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for the honor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> Gaston, Benjamin Corteza https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/gaston-benjamin-corteza/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/gaston-benjamin-corteza/ A Negrense whose socio-economic initiatives in behalf of the settler farmers were capped in August 1969 with the inauguration of the Daconcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company

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  • As a solution for the depressed Dacongcogon Valley of southern Negros Occidental, BENJAMIN GASTON, in 1958, began looking for means to build a sugar mill.
  • From collaboration between the Bishop and GASTON grew creation, in 1968, of the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association, Inc., now with 1,234 members.
  • Beginning with the 1975-76 crop, the Dacongcogon Company is to repay over 15 years the P27 million borrowed from the Philippine National Bank.
  • The RMAF board of trustees recognizes their engineering of an experiment in rural development giving small, indebted farmers in Dacongcogon Valley control of their livelihood and new hope.

The cane sugar industry traditionally, in the Philippines as in many countries, has fostered disparities in wealth that frustrate rising expectations. Every planter and worker knows the dilemma—as population increases—of sharing a father’s job among several sons. For youth, prospects of finding dignity and a decent living are dim.

As a solution for the depressed Dacongcogon Valley of southern Negros Occidental, BENJAMIN GASTON, in 1958, began looking for means to build a sugar mill. Residents were chiefly children of settlers to whom his father, as Provincial Governor, had distributed homesteads in the 1930s, or families whose resettlement he had himself administered in the early 1950s.

Poor roads, inadequate capital and skills, and lack of organization forced farmers to sell meager crops at low prices to middlemen. By 1967, 80 percent of settled lands were subject to foreclosure for unpaid loans.

Priest to the Negrenses for 23 years and a prime mover of social change in the province, ANTONIO FORTICH in January 1967 became Bishop of Bacolod. Deeply rooted in local conditions, he sought a just society of recognized rights and responsibilities, prodding planters and centrals (sugar mills), priests, politicians and the less privileged to cooperate in meeting glaring needs.

From collaboration between the Bishop and GASTON grew creation, in 1968, of the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association, Inc., now with 1,234 members. The next year they organized the Dacongcogon Sugar and Rice Milling Company, Inc. Alternating their original positions, the Bishop now serves as head of the company and GASTON of the cooperative. Financial ingenuity allowed acquisition of an old sugar mill in Silay and its transfer to Dacongcogon as the first project of the company. The mill’s former owners and the National Investment and Development Corporation hold 13.7 million pesos in stock for sale only to Cooperative members who contribute four pesos from their return on each 63.25-kilo picul of their 60 percent of sugar milled. From the small first and second crops of cane milled, the future owners have accumulated P862,000 to buy shares.

Beginning with the 1975-76 crop, the Dacongcogon Company is to repay over 15 years the P27 million borrowed from the Philippine National Bank. Utilized to move, establish and modernize the 1,500-tons-per-day mill, this loan also financed roads, tractors and trucks. Special presidential sanction allowed the Development Bank of the Philippines to restructure old loans to farmers, who, in turn, are showing encouraging capacity to learn to repay their new crop loans.

Notable among donations are technical assistance from the Victorias Milling Company, cane points from established planters and Provincial Government help on roads and bridges. Following his bishop’s lead, the parish priest has persuaded farmers to work together and hold onto their land.

While skeptics question whether these small planters will be led astray by their new cash resources or sell out to larger interests, the Cooperative has increased tenfold the members who have secured title to their lands. Corn and upland and lowland rice are also producing yields and prices new to these formerly subsistence farmers. Economic vitality in the “Valley of Tall Grass” is evidence of what people, church and government can accomplish together, under effective and enlightened leadership.

In electing Bishop ANTONIO YAPSUTCO FORTICH and BENJAMIN CORTEZA GASTON to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes their engineering of an experiment in rural development giving small, indebted farmers in Dacongcogon Valley control of their livelihood and new hope.

We have come today to accept this singular honor as one of the recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, fully cognizant of the challenge that goes with it.

Indeed the honor is overwhelming and viewed against the ideals, aims and purposes of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation one can only accept the same as indicating public recognition of the efforts and energies, as well as sacrifices and indomitable spirit, of the many men and women of goodwill who have kept faith with us during the most trying and difficult days at the inception of the Dacongcogon Cooperative Sugar Mill project.

The fact that a clergyman has been chosen this year under the category of Public Service has made the challenge doubly significant.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award for the Dacongcogon project clearly and mistakably shows what a resolute and dedicated group of men can do in the interest of the common good—indeed it is a tri-sectoral success. The Dacongcogon story stands as a positive fruition of the

common efforts of the Church and of deeply-concerned men in government and the private sector in the earnest search for a better life for the Filipino common man.

It was interest in the poor and the impoverished that propelled us in 1969 to undertake this socioeconomic project. This Award therefore will be to us a public covenant to pursue these goals which we have freely chosen for ourselves in the interest of justice, prosperity and the happiness of our people as a sound and firm foundation for the continued stability of our free way of life.

We accept this Award in all humility to signify our continuing commitment towards the liberation of our people from any and all systems and structures in our society that would impede their development as befits “creatures made in the image and likeness of God.”

For the many unheralded men and women who chose to cast their lot with the Dacongcogon project, the men and women in government who have immeasurably encouraged us during the trying and difficult days, we accept this Award and extend our thanks to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for the honor.

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]]> Summer Institute of Linguistics https://rmaward.asia/rmawardees/summer-institute-of-linguistics/ Tue, 07 Aug 1973 16:00:00 +0000 https://dev.rmaward.asia/index.php/rmawardees/summer-institute-of-linguistics/ Established in 1934 to provide qualified personnel for the growing ministry that William Cameron Townsend began in 1917 by translating the Bible for the Cakchiquel Indians of Central America

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  • The INSTITUTE pursues its mission by placing a pair of missionary-linguists among each non-literate people in five Asian and 20 other countries on five continents. Members of an international fraternity of 3,000 scholarly missionaries representing 18 nationalities remain in the communities until concepts and customs are mastered and the language recorded.
  • In the remote posts of the Institute in the Philippines, they regularly administer first aid and assist in epidemic outbreaks. Field workers are sustained and tribal folk given emergency care by pilots, five aircraft and 30 stations of their unique Jungle Aviation and Radio Service.
  • The INSTITUTE is supported voluntarily by individuals, church groups and communities. Foundations and government agencies have given grants for specific projects and lent their facilities.
  • The RMAF board of trustees recognizes its inspired outreach to non-literate tribes people, recording and teaching them to read their own languages and enhancing their participation in the larger community of man.

For the Manobos of Mindanao whom legend credits with illiteracy because a hungry ancestor ate their alphabet, and 35 other Filipino ethnic minorities, the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS is unlocking doors to knowledge. To this end, among each non-literate people it now reaches in five Asian and 20 other countries on five continents, the INSTITUTE places a pair of missionary-linguists. Members of an international fraternity of 3,000 scholarly missionaries representing 18 nationalities, they remain until concepts and customs are mastered and the language recorded.

The INSTITUTE pursues its mission of research and service to nonliterate minorities with broad creativity. Employing the science of descriptive linguistics, primers are prepared with glossaries in the tribal tongue, the main regional and national languages and English. Apt pupils are trained as teachers and help conduct literacy classes for adults and youth. Dictionaries, folk stories, songbooks, simple readers on arithmetic, hygiene and Christian scriptures all become vehicles for new ideas that spur social and spiritual change and national integration.

As in other countries, INSTITUTE personnel in the Philippines—numbering 150—cooperate with the departments of Education, Health and Defense, as did their predecessors who first came to work here two decades ago. Filipino linguists and the Institute of National Languages are principal beneficiaries of their research. At their remote posts they regularly administer first aid and assist in epidemic outbreaks. Field workers are sustained and tribal folk given emergency care by pilots, five aircraft and 30 stations of their unique Jungle Aviation and Radio Service.

The SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS was established in 1934 to provide qualified personnel for the growing ministry that William Cameron Town sends began in 1917 by translating the Bible for the Cakchiquel Indians of Central America. A sister organization, the Wycliffe Bible Translators, manages missionary activities. Special INSTITUTE linguistic courses are given at universities in the United States, Australia, Great Britain and West Germany. A jungle training camp in Mexico and a rugged arctic school in Canada ready volunteers for hardship.

Underwritten by no government or denomination, the INSTITUTE is supported voluntarily by individuals, church groups and communities. Foundations and government agencies have given grants for specific projects and lent their facilities. Nonsectarian believers in Christ, members complete they’re linguistic work in five, ten or more years and go, leaving behind a base for education. Respecting differences of language and culture, they provide avenues for modernization that yet allow individual and communal stability in the transition from isolation to full citizenship.

In electing the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS to receive the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, the Board of Trustees recognizes its inspired outreach to nonliterate tribespeople, recording and teaching them to read their own languages and enhancing their participation in the larger community of man.

It is with a particular sense of appreciation and encouragement that the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS accepts the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding.

My first contact with the late President Magsaysay was in March 1952 when he phoned from Manila to thank me for a copy of Cameron Townsend’s biography of the Mexican leader, Lazaro Cardenas, which I had mailed to him.

When my wife and I reached Manila in October of that year, I had the privilege of meeting Magsaysay personally, thus beginning a friendship which continued without interruption until his untimely death in March 1957.

President Ferdinand Marcos, from the very start of his administration, has continued the tradition of attention to needs of the cultural minorities and of unstinting help to the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS. Earlier this year, on the twentieth anniversary of the INSTITUTE’s work in the Philippines, President Marcos graciously gave renewed expression of his interest at a special function at Malaca?ang.

My colleagues and I in the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS begin to see the heartening results of the work we have happily volunteered to do in the hinterlands of this Republic. Provision of literacy materials in the Botolan Sambal language of Zambales is now well along. Speakers of that language should experience little difficulty in sustaining, through their own human resources, the momentum toward universal literacy and learning of the national language.

Cultural minorities in all parts of the Philippines are achieving dignity as literate, articulate citizens. A T’boli, for example, is supervising 22 other T’bolis in a highly successful program of teaching members of their group to read. One of the Tausug supervises an important dictionary project with only occasional help from an outside linguist. An Isneg is training to be an airplane pilot.

A Subanun, with only two years of schooling, has learned touch typing and been made barrio secretary in spite of having lost a finger on his right hand. One of the western Bukidnon Manobo, though he has had only three years of schooling, is a voluminous writer of original compositions designed to promote literacy among his own language group. Similar gratifying developments are transpiring among the Sarangani Manobo, Ilianen Manobo, Balangao, Kasiguran, Dumagan, Samal, Kalinga, Gadang and Bilaan.

Since this is an Award for work in Asia, I will only add that our efforts in four other Asian countries—Papua New Guinea, South Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal—are proceeding in a like pattern to that of the Philippines, with the preparation of alphabets and literacy materials for a large number of linguistics minorities.

In closing I would like to share with you three verses of Matthew 20:25 to 28 that I took the liberty of having printed on one occasion for President Magsaysay. He read them aloud to his aides: “You know the rulers of the people have power over them, and their leaders rule over them. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be chief, he must be your slave—like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many people.” As he finished reading, the President said: “That shows me the kind of man I ought to be.”

It also is a reminder which the SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS takes to heart again in accepting with deep gratitude this recognition.

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